Our Hope is Found Reflection 5

You can read the full transcript of the reflection below.

Today we're continuing to find hope and pray for our community and the different communities we're part of and I'm not sure whether what I'm reading you today is a poem or a prayer. It was first written by John Henry Newman - recently made Saint John Henry Newman - and then this version that I'm reading was then adapted by Mother Teresa of Calcutta, who apparently said this prayer, poem, every day after she received Holy Communion and I absolutely love it and there's a line in it which says that God's light may shine on us so that we might shine on others. And that's the source of hope I'm praying for today. That God can so shine on us that his life might shine through us, making a difference in the communities where we live.

So, here is this poem/prayer.

"Dear Lord, help me to spread thy fragrance everywhere I go. Flood my soul with thy spirit and life. Penetrate and possess my being so utterly that all my life may only be a radiance of thine. Shine through me, and be so in me that every soul I come in contact with may feel thy presence in my soul. Let them look up and see no longer me, but only thee, O Lord! Stay with me, and then I shall begin to shine as thou shinest; so to shine as to be a light to others. The light O Lord will be all from thee; none of it will be mine; it will be thou, shining on others through me. Let me thus praise thee in the way thou dost love best, by shining on those around me. Let me preach thee without preaching, not by words but by my example, by the catching force, the sympathetic influence of what I do, the evident fullness of the love my heart bears to thee. Amen."

So who would you like God to shine on in your family, your community, your neighbourhood? How might you be a source of that radiance by living our lives closer to God?

And if there's some people or some things in your community you particularly would like me to pray for, for the Sisters of Whitby to pray for, please do write in.

Anyone who wishes a prayer to be said for themselves or others, can send this in to Bishopthorpe Palace, where the Archbishop will pray, with support from The Order of the Holy Paraclete at Whitby.  

If you would like to send in a prayer request, please complete the online request here. You can also email: [email protected] putting ‘Prayer request’ in the subject line.

If you would like to write your request for prayer, please post to: Prayers, Office of the Archbishop of York, Bishopthorpe Palace, Bishopthorpe, York YO23 2GE.  

Please be aware that names may be shared with the Sisters of the Order of the Holy Paraclete in Whitby and that personal responses may not be possible.

Other prayer requests can be submitted anytime here